Hard! Ain't
you got any heart?"
Once, when all three of the Na-che's crew had taken a bad plunge, and
Jonas had come up with an audible crack of his black head against the
gunwale, he began to scold while the others were still fighting for
breath.
"You shouldn't ship her full of water like that! All that good paint I
put on her insides is gone! Hey, Mr. Agnew, don't drip that blood off
your hand on her!"
"Shut up, Jonas," coughed Agnew good-naturedly.
"Let him alone, Ag!" exclaimed Harden, between a strangling cough and a
sneeze. "What do you want to divulge your cold-heartedness for? Go to
it, Jonas! You're some lover, all right!"
The shallows ended in a rapid which they shot without more than the
usual difficulties. They then had an hour of quiet rowing through
gorges that grew more narrow and more dusky as they proceeded. About
four o'clock snow began to fall. It was a light enough powder, at
first, but shortly it thickened until it was impossible to guide the
boats. They edged in shore where a ledge overhanging a heap of broken
rock offered a meager shelter. Here they planned to spend the night.
The shore was too precipitous to beach the boats. Much to Jonas'
sorrow, they could only anchor them before the ledge.
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